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Monday June 2, 2014 6:04 AM

Tallulah was a sad sight: Her skin was a bit mottled, and she could barely move.

And she still leaked oil.

In January 2011, some might recall that I wrote about the 2000 Mustang we bought for our sons,
Jon and Matt. They loved the car, naming it Tallulah.

And, for a cheap car, Tallulah served them nobly. She spent the better part of four years in
Athens, climbing the hills of southeastern Ohio as her valves rattled and her transmission
strained.

She carried my sons to every corner of the state, whether for a sports event or a rendezvous
with a girlfriend.

But Tallulah had a temper. She was skittish in bad weather, scaring Matt so badly one snowy
night that, after we received a phone call from the shaken driver that he had almost crashed on the
way back to Athens, we put him up in a Canal Winchester hotel until the roads cleared.

Recently, our younger son drove the car on the first day of his summer job. When he later tried
to move the car, though, it wouldn’t start.

He fiddled with the gear shift, and the car started. He drove the Mustang into the driveway and
tried to put it in park. The shifter moved; the transmission stayed in gear.

After several desperate shifts, the car thudded into reverse with an ominous bang. The shifter
moved but the car stayed in reverse.

I’m just grateful that Tallulah expired in the driveway, after delivering my son home
safely.

For a while, she sat forlornly, two wheels off the edge of the driveway asphalt and into the
grass — to keep her from rolling. The rear wheels were chocked in place.

Tallulah, I’m sorry, but I wasn’t about to sink $2,000 into a transmission for a 14-year-old car
with 158,000 miles on the odometer.

But Mustang fans, take heart: A friend of Matt’s recently bought her for the parts.

Tallulah will live again — piece by piece — on other cars.

So long, old friend. Thank you for your service.

Terry Mikesell, the Dispatch Weekender editor, wishes he were as mechanically inclined as his
brother-in-law, who fixed the transmission on his truck for $50.